Improvement in electric lights



W. WALLACE.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

WILLIAM WALLACE, OF ANSONIA, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTRIC LIGHTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 198,436, dated December18, 1877; application filed November 14, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM IVALLAGE, of Ansonia, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented anew Improvement inElectric Lamp; andI do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in-

Figure 1, front view; Fig. 2, side view.

This invention relates to an improvement in electric lighting apparatus,and particularly to a device which may be arranged at any desirablepoint, and which employs two pieces of carbon, nearly approaching eachother, and between which the electric arc is formed, and where thecarbons are consumed.

In the usual construction these carbons have been in pencil shape,square, or polygonal, and arranged so that they come in the axial lineof each other, and so that the point of one is presented to the point ofthe other. In such a lamp the carbon will only burn while the pointsofthe two are within a certain distance of each other. So soon as thatdistance is exceeded the current is broken and the light isextinguished.

Various devices have been resorted to to cause the carbons toautomatically approach each other as they are consumed, and so as tohold them always in the proper relative position to each other; butthese devices are nee essarily complicated and expensive, rendering sucha lamp impracticable for general use.

The object of this invention is to overcome the necessity of thisconstant readjustment of the carbons; and it consists in a pair ofcarbons having an extended workingedge, arranged so as to bring theiredges substantially parallel to each other and to the said carbons, eachheld in a suitable support, and each connected to its respective pole ofthe electric power, and so that the circuit may be made at any point inthe said extended or parallel edges of said carbons, as more fullyhereinafter described.

In illustration, the simplest arrangement is shown, in which Arepresents a frame, of wood or other suitable material, in dimensionsaccording to the purpose for which the lamp is intended. Across thisframe are two inetallic bars, B O, on each of which a suitable clamp orholder, D, is arranged to receive the respective carbons E F. Thesecarbons are made in the form of thin plates, and so as to present thetwo edges 0. parallel to each other, or nearly so.

From one pole of the electric power a wire, (I, is brought to the bar B,or to the support for the carbon E, and to the other bar, 0, or supportfor the carbon F, a wire, 0, is brought from the other pole; hence, whenthe electricity is applied, the space between the two carbons E F formsthe arc in which the circuit is made.

To make the circuit and start the light, the electricity is applied, andwith any suitable device the circuit is made at any point between thetwo edges of the carbon, preferably beginning at one end. The flame willburn at the point at which it is ignited'until the carbon is consumed atthat point; then it will attack the nearest point, working back andforth on the edge, generally for a short distance, until so much of thecarbon over that portion is consumed as to nearly break the circuit.This will force the current to an adjacent point, where a less are isfound, and

will so continue back and forth until the en tire edges of the carbonsare consumed to such an extent that the circuit can no longer bemaintained between the two edges 5 but the time which is necessary to sofar consinne these extended edges is so great that light, after such atime, would not usually be desired; and in consequence ofsuch extendededges, and continued burning along those edges, the constantreadjustment of the carbons and the mechanism necessary to render suchadjustment are avoided, and a lamp produced having equal brilliancy toany electric light, thoroughly practicable in its operation, and socheap in its construction as to render it practicable for generalpurposes.

In practice, the frame is suspended at the point from which it isdesired that the light shall proceed, or may be arranged upon asupporting-stand, or an entirely different c011- struction forsupporting the carbon-holders may be employed without departing fromthis invention, it only being essential that there shall be two carbons,each with extended edge, and parallel to each other, and each extendededge parallel to each other, combined with means for holding saidcarbon, and connection with the respective poles, substantially asdescribed.

WM. WALLACE. Witnesses HENRY EDMUND-S, J r., Tnos. J. W001).

